The 2020–21 La Liga season, also known as La Liga Santander due to sponsorship reasons, was the 90th since its establishment. The season began on 12 September 2020 and concluded on 23 May 2021. The fixtures were announced on 31 August 2020.
Real Madrid were the defending champions, after winning a record 34th title in the previous season. Huesca, Cádiz and Elche joined as the promoted clubs from the 2019–20 Segunda División. They replaced Espanyol, Mallorca and Leganés, who were relegated to the 2020–21 Segunda División.
Exceptionally, this season the five substitutions were maintained in a maximum of three rounds per team, adopted in May 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Atlético Madrid won their eleventh La Liga title on the last day of the season, after a 2–1 comeback win against Valladolid, who were relegated with the defeat. It was their first title since 2013–14. Barcelona and Real Madrid were the only other teams to have won the title since Atlético Madrid last did so.
Teams Promotion and relegation (pre-season) A total of twenty teams contested the league, including seventeen sides from the 2019–20 season and three promoted from the 2019–20 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, and the winners of the promotion play-offs.
Teams relegated to Segunda División
The first team to be relegated from La Liga were Espanyol, after a 0–1 loss to city rivals Barcelona on 8 July 2020, ending their 26-year stay in the top tier. The second team to be relegated were Mallorca, following a 1–2 home defeat against Granada on 16 July 2020, suffering an immediate return to the second division. The third and final team to be relegated were Leganés, after drawing 2–2 against Real Madrid on 19 July 2020 in their final game of the season. This ended Legas four-year stint in the first tier.
Teams promoted from Segunda División
On 12 July 2020, Cádiz became the first side to mathematically be promoted, assured of a return to the top flight after a fourteen-year absence following Oviedo's 4–2 win against Zaragoza. The second team to earn promotion were Huesca, following their 3–0 win against Numancia on 17 July 2020. This marked an immediate return to the first division after a season away. The final team to achieve promotion were Elche on 23 August 2020, following a 1–0 aggregate victory over Girona in the final of the promotion play-offs, sealing a return to La Liga after a five-year absence.
Stadiums and locations
+TeamsLocationsStadiumsCapacityAlavésVitoria-GasteizMendizorrotzaAthletic BilbaoBilbaoSan MamésMadridWanda MetropolitanoBarcelonaBarcelonaCamp NouCádizCádizRamón de CarranzaCelta VigoVigoAbanca-BalaídosEibarEibarIpurua Elche Elche Martínez Valero GetafeGetafeColiseum Alfonso PérezGranadaGranadaNuevo Los Cármenes Huesca Huesca El Alcoraz LevanteValenciaCiutat de ValènciaOsasunaPamplonaEl SadarReal BetisSevilleBenito VillamarínReal MadridMadridAlfredo Di Stéfano Real SociedadSan SebastiánAnoetaSevillaSevilleRamón Sánchez PizjuánValenciaValenciaMestallaValladolidValladolidJosé ZorrillaVillarrealVillarrealEstadio de la Cerámica
Personnel and sponsorship
+ Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor(s), VERSUS (interim) 1. On the back of shirt. 2. On the sleeves. 3. On the shorts.
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner ofdepartureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate ofappointmentVillarreal Javier CallejaSacked20 July 2020Pre-season Unai Emery23 July 2020Alavés Juan MuñizEnd of contract Pablo Machín5 August 2020Real Betis Alexis TrujilloEnd of interim spell Manuel Pellegrini9 July 2020Valencia Voro Javi Gracia27 July 2020Barcelona Quique SetiénSacked17 August 2020 Ronald Koeman19 August 2020Elche PachetaResigned25 August 2020 Jorge Almirón26 August 2020Celta Vigo Óscar GarcíaSacked9 November 202017th Eduardo Coudet12 November 2020Athletic Bilbao Gaizka Garitano3 January 20219th Marcelino4 January 2021Huesca Míchel12 January 202120th Pacheta12 January 2021Alavés Pablo Machín16th AbelardoElche Jorge AlmirónResigned12 February 202119th Fran Escribá14 February 2021Alavés AbelardoSacked5 April 202120th Javier Calleja5 April 2021Valencia Javi Gracia2 May 202114th Voro (caretaker)3 May 2021
League table
Results
Season statistics
ScoringFirst goal of the season: Yangel Herrera for Granada against Athletic Bilbao (12 September 2020)Last goal of the season: Papu Gómez for Sevilla against Alavés (23 May 2021)
Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals1 Lionel MessiBarcelona302 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid23 Gerard MorenoVillarreal4 Luis SuárezAtlético Madrid215 Youssef En-NesyriSevilla186 Alexander IsakReal Sociedad177 Iago AspasCelta Vigo148 Antoine GriezmannBarcelona13 Rafa MirHuesca José Luis MoralesLevante
Top assists Rank Player Club Assists1 Iago AspasCelta Vigo132 Marcos LlorenteAtlético Madrid113 Yannick CarrascoAtlético Madrid10 Toni KroosReal Madrid5 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid9 Jorge de FrutosLevante Lionel MessiBarcelona Denis SuárezCelta Vigo9 Ángel CorreaAtlético Madrid8 Mikel OyarzabalReal Sociedad Carlos SolerValencia
Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy was awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with the lowest goals-to-games ratio. A goalkeeper had to have played at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy. RankPlayerClubGoalsagainstMatchesAverage1 Jan OblakAtlético Madrid25380.662 Thibaut CourtoisReal Madrid28380.743 Yassine BounouSevilla28330.854 Álex RemiroReal Sociedad 38381.005 Marc-André ter StegenBarcelona32311.03
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Round Carlos SolerValenciaReal Madrid4–1 (H)8 November 20209 Youssef En-NesyriSevillaReal Sociedad 3–2 (H)9 January 202118 Youssef En-NesyriSevillaCádiz3–0 (H)23 January 202120 Rafa MirHuescaValladolid3–1 (A)29 January 202121 Alexander IsakReal Sociedad Alavés4–0 (H)21 February 202124 Gerard MorenoVillarreal Granada3–0 (A)3 April 202129 Kike GarcíaEibar Alavés3–0 (H)1 May 202134 Carlos BaccaVillarrealSevilla4–0 (H)16 May 202137
Discipline Stats from: Player Most yellow cards: 15 Stefan Savić (Atlético Madrid) Most red cards: 2 Pape Diop (Eibar) Djené (Getafe) Raúl García (Athletic Bilbao) Clément Lenglet (Barcelona) Aïssa Mandi (Real Betis)
Team Most yellow cards: 114 Getafe Most red cards: 8 Alavés Real Betis Fewest yellow cards: 57 Real Madrid Fewest red cards: 0' Atlético Madrid
Awards Monthly MonthPlayer of the MonthReferencePlayerClubSeptember Ansu FatiBarcelonaOctober Mikel OyarzabalReal SociedadNovember João FélixAtlético MadridDecember Iago AspasCelta VigoJanuary Youssef En-NesyriSevillaFebruary Lionel MessiBarcelonaMarch Karim BenzemaReal MadridApril FernandoSevillaMay Jan OblakAtlético Madrid
Seasonal Seasonal awards Award Recipient Reference Best Player Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid) Best Goalkeeper Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid) Best Coach Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid)
Team of the Season Team of the Season Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois(Real Madrid) Defenders Jordi Alba(Barcelona) Javi Galán(Huesca) Jules Koundé(Sevilla) Midfielders Marcos Llorente(Atlético Madrid) Frenkie de Jong(Barcelona) Carlos Soler(Valencia) Luka Modrić(Real Madrid) Forwards Gerard Moreno(Villarreal) Karim Benzema(Real Madrid) Lionel Messi(Barcelona)
EA SPORTS Team of the SeasonPlayerClub Jan OblakAtlético Madrid Jesús NavasSevilla Raphaël VaraneReal Madrid Jules KoundéSevilla Jordi AlbaBarcelona CasemiroReal Madrid Frenkie de JongBarcelona Marcos LlorenteAtlético Madrid Nabil FekirReal Betis Yannick CarrascoAtlético Madrid Lucas VázquezReal Madrid Karim BenzemaReal Madrid Luis SuárezAtlético Madrid Gerard MorenoVillarreal Lionel MessiBarcelona
Notes and references